Monday, September 2, 2013

Immigration police keep close watch on Cambodian Muslims in Thailand

SA KAEO, Sept 2 – Thai immigration police are
closely monitoring the movement of Cambodian Muslims who entered
Thailand through the eastern border to work illegally in the South.

Benjapol Rodsawat, deputy immigration police chief of Sa Kaeo
province on the Thai-Cambodian border, said about 10,000 Cambodian
Muslims entered the kingdom through the eastern border and travelled to
Malaysia via the southern border checkpoint in Su-ngai Kolok, Narathiwat
province in the past year.

The migrants told Thai authorities at the southern border checkpoint
that they would visit their relatives in Malaysia but they re-entered
Thailand shortly after to work in the three Muslim-predominant border
provinces without work permits, he said.

Nearly 10,000 Cambodian Muslims are arrested in Narathiwat each year
and charged with illegal entry after failing to produce legal documents,
he said.

The illegal Cambodian migrants have become a burden for the Thai
authorities who have to send them back via the Aranyaprathet immigration
checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province, he said.

Pol Lt Col Benjapol said police could not take legal action against
the illegal migrants due to an agreement between Thailand and Cambodia.

“Many Cambodian Muslims migrated to work in the South without work
permits or legal documents. It’s the responsibility of Thai authorities
to send them back to their home country without them having to pay for
travel expenses,” he said.

At the checkpoint in Aranyaprathet yesterday, 57 Cambodian Muslims
were stopped but later allowed to enter Thailand after producing legal
passports with tourist visas.

They told immigration police that they intended to visit their
relatives in Malaysia and would travel South to the checkpoint at
Su-ngai Kolok.

Aranprayaprathet police sent their records and photos to Su-ngai
Kolok checkpoint to keep a close watch on their re-entry, police said.